Jewelry display holder



Dec. 6, 1 R. EICHHORN ETAL JEWELRY DISPLAY HOLDER Filed April 11, 1966 FIG 2 FIG I FIG REINHOLD EIOHHORN FR D A. FROST INVENTORS. BY

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,289,853 JEWELRY DISPLAY HOLDER Reinhold Eichhorn, Joshua Green Bldg., and Fred A. Frost, 200 Shafer Bldg., both of Seattle, Wash.

Filed Apr. 11, 1966, Ser. No. 541,719

9 Claims. (Cl. 211-13) The present invention relates to jewelry display holders, and more particularly to a holder whereby, a set of wedding and engagement rings, for example, may be at tractively displayed together for customer viewing in a show case.

An important object of the invention is to provide such a holder which is of compact, simple, durable and economical construction, and yet makes provision for selectively releasably gripping one or two rings or other suitable objects in a display position while being readily adjustable to accommodate various thicknesses of the held article at the gripping point.

Another object is to provide such a holder which can be easily manipulated to selectively release one of two gripped objects, without at the same time releasing'the other, and can be loaded one object at a time and maintain a grip in the first-loaded object while the second object is being loaded.

A further aim is to provide .a display holder in which the display wall can be varied substantially at will in size or shape and still use the same object gripping mechanism.

Other more particular objects and advantages of the invention will, with the foregoing, appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a display holder embodying the invention, and shown holding a pair of rings and a related price tag;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIG 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the parts of the device;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the manner of manipulating one finger open at a time; and

FIG. 5 is a rear perspective view of an alternative embodiment.

Referring to the first illustrated embodiment of the invention in FIGS. 1-3, it is seen that for purposes of example a self-supporting stand is provided having a trapezoidal display wall from the non-parallel sides of which triangular wings extend rearwardly at dihedral angles to the display wall to serve as supporting legs 11. These legs are preferably isosceles with base angles of about 45 so that display wall will be at a good sloped viewing angle regardless of which of its parallel edges is located at the bottom.

Irrespective of the manner of its support, the display wall 10 is formed with a rearwardly dished rib to provide an elongated front groove 12. This groove is centrally punched providing a rectangular opening 13 through which the arms of a U-clip 14 rearwardly project to its bight 14a from a pair of oppositely directed fingers 15 arranged to seal in the groove. The U-clip may be formed from a narrow strip of metal and is preferably ribbed at 15a along the fingers 15 and at the elbows at the root ends of the fingers. A compression spring 16 is sleeved on the U-clip behind the display wall and is held in partially compressed condition by a retainer 17 that is seated against the inside of the bight 14a. The retainer 17 may comprise a short length of rod formed with a moderate forwardly bent open loop 17a at the center to better interfit with the clip bight and resist endwise displacement of the retainer relative to the U-clip while the spring seats against the end portions of the retainer.

Directly behind the display wall there is mounted a tag retainer 18 taking the form of a strip with an opening 19 registering with the opening 13 in the display wall to receive the U-olip. The tag retainer is held against the display wall by the spring 16, and at one of its ends is transversely ribbed forwardly toward the display wall as at 18a to give an entry throat 20 for insertion of a price or other informational tag 21 between the retainer and the back of the display wall in opposition to the spring pressure.

The clip mechanism is easily assembled by inserting the U-clip 14, bight end first, rearwardly through the opening 13 in the display wall. Then, after the tag retainer 18 has been sleeved over the U-clip, the spring 16 is sleeved over the U-clip, seated against the tag retainer and compressed until its rear end is forward of the bight 14a. The spring retainer 17 is then passed through the bight 14a and the spring released to seat on the ends portions of the spring retainer. If tags are not to be associated with the display, the tag retainer can be left out of the assembly without effecting operation of the fingers 15.

Normally the front face of the display wall, respective faces of the legs 11, and the exposed faces of the fingers 15, will be decorated as with velvet fabric or flocking, but for clarity of illustration such decorative covering has not been shown in the drawings. Aluminum has been found to be a very satisfactory material for the above-described parts other than the spring.

To open the fingers 15, i.e., to make a gap between the fingers and the front of the display wall, for insertion of rings 22 or other articles beneath the fingers, it is only necessary to manually push forward against the bight 14a and spring retainer 17 as with a thumb while holding the display wall 10 as with the index and middle fingers of the same hand.

However, one of the advantages of the invention is the fact that only one finger need be opened at a time. For example, directing attention to FIG. 4, to open the upper finger the bight 14a is pressed upwardly at the same time that it is pressed forwardly. This causes the tip of the upper finger and the upper edge of the opening 13 to become fulcrums. As the bight 14a is pressed as described the lower arm of the U-clip wipes forwardly along the upper edge of the opening 13 and forwardly opens the upper finger while at the same time the upper arm swings downwardly. During this action the finger end of the lower arm of the U-clip is gradually squeezed to the finger end of the upper arm and the tip of the lower finger slides upwardly slightly. The resulting position of the U-clip is indicated in broken lines in FIG. 4. Similarly, the lower finger can be opened without opening the upper finger by pressing the bight 14a downwardly and forwardly at the same time.

The display wall 10 may be made in a great variety of shape for ornamental appearance, as for example a heart 10' illustrated in FIG. 5. In such case, instead of providing supporting legs directly on the display wall as in the first embodiment, an alternative arrangement is shown in which legs 11 are made integral with the tag retainer, denoted 21', and diverge to give support by contact of their spread tips in concert with the point of the heart. The clip mechanism is unaltered.

It will also be appreciated that the display wall may be enlarged and provide multiple openings 13 for installation of a like number of the described clip assemblies.

It is believed that the invention will have been clearly understood from the foregoing detailed description of my now-preferred illustrated embodiment. Changes in the details of construction may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is ac cordingly my intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

What is claimed is:

1. A display holder comprising, a wall having a display face and a back face with an opening extending therebetween, a U-clip having a center bight spaced behind the wall and a pair of arms extending forwardly from said bight through said opening and terminating at a pair of oppositely extending gripping fingers at the front of the wall, and compression spring means compressed between said bight and said wall to yieldingly urge said fingers toward said display face.

2. A displayholder according to claim 1 in which said wall has its display face formed with a pair of oppositely extending grooves behind said fingers.

3. A display holder according to claim 1 in which a tag retainer is sleeved over said clip arms and is yieldingly held against the back face of said wall by the forward end of said spring means.

4. A display holder according to claim 1 in which said U-clip is made from a flat strip and has its said center rib.

5. A display holder according to claim 1 in which stand-up wings extend from said Wall.

6. A display holder according to claim 3 in which stand-up Wings extend from said tag retainer.

7. A display holder according to claim 1 in which said spring means comprises a retainer seated against the inside of'said bight and projecting by its ends beyond said arms, and a compression spring sleeved on said arms and compressed between said wall and said projecting ends of the retainer.

8. A display holder according to claim 7 in which said retainer is looped forwardly at its center to interfit with said bight whereby said retainer is held in spring retaining position. v

9. A display holder according to claim 1 in which said arms are spaced apart within said opening.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,481,903 9/1949 Brady 21 l-13 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A DISPLAY HOLDER COMPRISING, A WALL HAVING A DISPLAY FACE AND A BACK FACE WITH AN OPENING EXTENDING THEREBETWEEN, A U-CLIP HAVING A CENTER BIGHT SPACED BEHIND THE WALL AND A PAIR OF ARMS EXTENDING FORWARDLY FROM SAID BIGHT THROUGH SAID OPENING AND TERMINATING AT A PAIR OF OPPOSITELY EXTENDING GRIPPING FINGERS AT THE FRONT OF THE WALL, AND COMPRESSION SPRING MEANS COMPRESSED BETWEEN SAID BIGHT AND SAID WALL TO YIELDINGLY URGE SAID FINGERS TOWARD SAID DISPLAY FACE. 